5 Instances of Indian domestic teams defeating International teams

Considering India’s home dominance in Test cricket, many experts have raised doubts over the possibility of a second-string Indian team beating the visiting nations. Some fans and critics even expected some of the top Ranji Trophy teams capable enough to bring down the International sides.

Though such doubts might remain unanswered, there are a few instances from the past when some of the Ranji teams thumped the visiting International teams. In this article, we look at five of instances of an Indian domestic team defeating a visiting team during a match with official status (FC or List A).

Here we look at instances of the Indian domestic teams defeating national teams of other countries:

5. Tamil Nadu – Ceylon and Sri Lanka

An annual cricket match between Tamil Nadu and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the memory of M.J. Gopalan began in the 1952-53 season and lasted till 2007-08. The Tamil Nadu domestic team featured in all 27 editions of the Gopalan Trophy while Sri Lanka used to field with Board President’s XI and Districts teams in some editions.

The teams from Sri Lanka won on 10 instances while Tamil Nadu team was successful in five seasons; all when the Sri Lankan team was an associate nation. Tamil Nadu, formerly known as Madras, won in 1957-58 and 1959-60 seasons by 2 wickets and 8 wickets respectively.

In this process, they defeated Ceylon, the Sri Lankan national side. Tamil Nadu defeated Sri Lanka by 3 runs during the 1972-73 season and by an innings and 73-run in 1974-75. They also won the trophy in the 1971-72 season by innings and 9 runs in Colombo. Tamil Nadu defeated the Ceylon Board President’s XI during that fixture hosted by Colombo which wasn’t an official national team of Sri Lanka.

4. Karnataka vs West Indians in 1978-79

West Indies toured India in the 1978-79 season with a depleted side under Vanburn Holder due to Pacer’s World Series. The team from the Caribbean suffered their first Test series defeat on the Indian soil as the hosts won the 6-match Test series by 1-0 margin. West Indies were due to tour Sri Lanka in the latter half of February. However, before they left India, the West Indians took on the Karnataka team in Ahmedabad; two days after the Test series concluded in Kanpur.

Gundappa Viswanath led the Karnataka team against the West Indians who were captained by Alvin Kallicharran. The International side were quite strong with as many as 9 players featuring in at least one match during the Test series. Karnataka, who batted first, were six wickets down at the score of 59 with Malcolm Marshall claiming five of them. However, they were rescued by R Sudhakar Rao who smashed a gritty ton. He scored an unbeaten 107 with 12 fours and two sixes as Karnataka finished with 219/10.

The top three of the West Indians team – Alvin Greenidge (25), Alvadon Williams (57) and Faoud Bacchus (74) collectively scored 156 runs but the team was bowled out for only 220. Left-arm spinner Bharamiah Vijayakrishna took six wickets to keep down the first-innings lead of the tourists to just one run. Karnataka put on a much better batting performance in the 2nd essay where they made 292/8 before declaring the innings. Sudhakar scored 72 this time and was the lone half-centurion for his team.

Opener Alvadon Williams anchored the 292-run chase for the International side with small partnerships. An 8th wicket partnership of 56 runs with wicket-keeper John Lyon put West Indian team at 278/7. But two wickets by Vijaykrishna in quick span left them reeling at 280/9. Their skipper Kallicharran was absent hurt and didn’t come to bat. Williams remained unbeaten on 126 during his 232-minute effort which resulted in his team’s 11-run defeat.

3. Delhi vs England XI in 2012-13

England’s tour of India in 2012-13 was a fruitful one as they won the Test series 2-1 and drew the T20I series 1-1. Ahead of the 5-match ODI series, the England team took on Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Shikhar Dhawan, who was aiming a return to the Indian colours, led the home team. Skipper Alastair Cook, with a 44 off 58 balls, shared a 70-run opening stand with Ian Bell after winning the toss.

The England XI lost a couple of wickets in a quick span and were reduced to 130/3 by 29th over. Bell was joined by Eoin Morgan as the duo began to improve the visiting team’s scoring rate. The duo added 113 runs from 91 balls before Ian Bell got out after scoring a 125-ball 108 with 12 boundaries. Morgan, on the other hand, scored 52 off 54 balls with six boundaries. Craig Kieswetter’s unbeaten 27-ball 41 powered England to 294/5.

Shikhar opened along with Unmukt Chand (37) in a tricky chase and added 98 for the first wicket in only 17.4 overs. The scoring rate didn’t improve despite Dhawan scoring at run-a-ball pace. He smashed 14 fours and 3 sixes during his 110 which came in 109 deliveries before being trapped in front by Joe Root. Dhawan was dismissed in the 35th over at the score of 188/3. Only four runs came in next 2 overs before Vaibhav Rawat was cleaned up by Jade Dernbach.

Milind Kumar, who was at the crease for nearly an hour, took the responsibility of the chase along with Rajat Bhatia when they needed 103 runs from only 81 balls. All the remaining runs were scoring during an unbeaten 103-run stand between Milind and Bhatia in only 12 overs. Milind scored 85-ball 78* with 10 boundaries while Bhatia struck 8 fours during his 45 which came in only 33 balls. England won the first and last matches of the 5-match ODI series but India won the series having won the remaining three.

2. Karnataka vs New Zealanders in 1999-00

New Zealand toured India in late 1999 for three Tests and an ODI series of five matches. India nearly won the first Test hosted by Mohali that ended in a draw despite getting bowled out for 83 in the first session of the game. Before the 2nd Test in Kanpur, the BlackCaps took on Karnataka in Bangalore. New Zealand fielded with as many as seven players (Including 7 of their top 8) against Karnataka who played in Mohali. As many as six players in India’s XI in the first Test were from Karnataka only.

Among those six players, the likes of Rahul Dravid, R Vijay Bharadwaj, Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi turned up for the 3-day game. New Zealanders lost four wickets for only 27 runs by the 10th over after they were put in to bat. But skipper Stephen Fleming rescued his team alongside Nathan Astle. The duo shared 105 runs for the 5th wicket in a partnership that lasted little over 36 overs. Astle was run out after scoring 58 but Fleming batted till the end of the day’s play.

He made an unbeaten 115 from 253 deliveries with 14 fours and a maximum as New Zealand ended on 249/6 and declared overnight. Karnataka scored at a better rate as they made 269/9 in 82 overs and declared their innings to make New Zealanders bat six overs before the stumps. Vijay Bharadwaj made 96 from 171 balls while wicketkeeper Thilak Naidu scored 52 off 93. Resuming from their overnight score of 12/0, the visiting side were bundled out for only 105 runs.

Nathan Astle (33) and Matthew Bell (26) were the only players who scored more than extra runs (13) for New Zealand. Sunil Joshi claimed four wickets while Dodda Ganesh picked up three wickets in his morning spell. Karnataka came out to chase 86 in a minimum of 35 overs. They lost three wickets for 56 runs in 14.4 overs but Vijay Bharadwaj’s unbeaten 33 off 37 balls helped the hosts chase down the target in only 20.4 overs and seal a 7-wicket win.

1. Mumbai vs Australians in 1997-98

Australia toured India at the start of 1998 for a 3-match Test series and the Pepsi Triangular ODI series which involved Zimbabwe as the 3rd team. Their tour began at the Brabourne Stadium where they faced the hosts Mumbai. Sachin Tendulkar decided to play the warm-up match by leading the Mumbai team. The possibility of Sachin vs Warne already hyped the Test series. The Indian batsman decided to get an idea of the Australian side before the Test series.

The visitors fielded a near full-strength side as the Mark Taylor-led side missed only Waugh brothers. Fifties by Michael Slater (98) and Ricky Ponting (53) helped Australia finish the first day at 305/8 and they declared at the same tally overnight. Tendulkar walked out to bat when Mumbai were two down for 71 runs. He took the aggressive route from the moment he stepped to the crease.

He needed only 46 deliveries to reach 50-run mark and raised his hundred in 90 balls with 15 fours and a six. Sachin alone smashed 99 runs in the 2nd session out of the 131 runs made by Mumbai for the loss of one wicket. He got over the 150-run mark in only 138 balls as the home team got into the first-innings lead. The last session saw the dominance of Tendulkar and Rajesh Suthar (45 off 43) who added 97 runs in around 70 minutes.

Sachin Tendulkar raised his maiden double hundred in FC cricket from only 188 balls. He finished unbeaten on 204 from 192 balls which included 25 fours and two sixes. Suthar’s dismissal made Sachin declare Mumbai’s innings at 410/6 and make the Australians bat for nine overs before the stumps. Warne failed to live up to the expectations as he was smashed for 111 runs in 16 overs out of which only one over was a maiden. The home team bowlers made most from those 9 overs by reducing the visitors to 12/3 by stumps.

Greg Blewett (50) and Ricky Ponting (37) added 69 runs for the 4th wicket in order to make the Australians escape an innings defeat. But Nilesh Kulkarni’s 5-wicket haul turned the tables as the visitors were bundled out for only 135 having lost their last 7 wickets for just 54 runs. Mumbai had a target of 31 runs in front of them which they chased in 5.3 overs to complete a 10-wicket win.